Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Enjoyable for a fan but otherwise not something to buy on launch.

It’s been seventeen years since Sega debuted its ‘blast processing’ powered blue Hedgehog with an attitude and unfortunately for many the days in which Sonic was either a relevant character or a part of a game worth playing exist only as an abused memory tarnished by the countless failed attempts to bring Sonic into the third dimension. Although the transition hasn’t been as kind to Sonic’s legacy as it has to Mario’s every once in a while a Sonic game will show a glimmer of hope for the fallen SEGA mascot, history shows this glimmer

usually serves to perpetuate the vicious cycle of hope and disappointment that disenfranchised Sonic fans have become accustomed to, but occasionally titles such as Sonic Rush will be the exception and actually be a genuinely good game. Sonic Chronicles is the latest game featuring the high-speed Hedgehog but the question is whether the game is one of those rare treats Sonic fans so desperately need or whether it’s just another stage in the vicious cycle.

It’s hard to imagine why it’s taken so long for Sonic to follow in the footsteps of Mario and make the jump into the RPG genre; especially since the platforming genre has become so inhospitable to him and SEGA has shown that they have no problem shoving him anywhere there’s a space he can fit in (See Sega Superstars, Sonic Riders, Sega Superstar Tennis, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics etc.) but nevertheless Sonic has finally made the leap, albeit a few years later than his Nintendo counterpart. The most surprising aspect of ‘Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood’ is that it was developed by a RPG wizards Bioware, so at least it has the potential to be as acclaimed as the Square developed Super Mario RPG.

Thankfully the story in Sonic Chronicles is simple, which helps the game avoid the trap most other modern Sonic games fall into through assuming that people want a developed story, in the Sonic universe this typically comes out looking like some cross-species Sonic erotica fan fiction despite the best attempts of the writers. The story starts with Sonic returning from a well earned break after seemingly defeating Eggman to find that Knuckles has gone missing along with the series McGuffins the Chaos Emeralds, and strange creatures have appeared, not missing a beat Sonic and his band of anthropomorphic buddies immediately set off to rescue their friend and take on The Dark Brotherhood. The game is split up into 10 small chapters which take Sonic and friends through a number of settings including Green Hill Zone, Metropolis city and other familiar environments as well as a few unfamiliar worlds and dimensions. While the story isn’t ‘bad’ it isn’t exactly interesting either, this can become a problem since without any sort of motivating plot point to latch onto it can feel as if the game is just adding chapters to drag the story out and the eventual payoff is inevitably going to feel lacklustre.

Much of the story is told through Bioware’s signature conversation trees, however unlike in KOTOR or Mass Effect the selections have no impact on the game, they’re usually just one character speculating on the motivations of another or providing the history of an alien race, for some this will be an interesting addition to the Sonic lore but for most it will be immediately dismissible chunks of useless banter. Fortunately Bioware have been kind enough to provide an option in the dialog tree which when chosen will skip the chitchat in favour of a plot progressing statement, this is especially helpful if you’re inclined to take on the side-quests but don’t want to hear about Lil’ Timmy trapped in the well (It actually happens, I kid you not).

Although the game is an RPG it doesn’t outright embrace all the usual conventions of the genre, to their credit Bioware has managed to strike a good balance between platforming and RPG and preserve both the look of the Sonic universe as well as key gameplay characteristics. The top screen on the DS displays a map of the area and highlights all the essential information such as character locations, objective points and shops whereas the bottom screen displays the world from an isometric viewpoint. The different environments are immediately recognisable as locales from a Sonic game, the main world is just as vibrant and colourful as it was in the first Sonic game and for the most part the environments and character models remain consistently detailed, the exception is during the battle sequences; the backgrounds suffer a severe visual blow and become horribly pixelated and low resolution, this degradation is worsened since the character models remain detailed.

Sonic and friends are all controlled using the stylus exclusively, movement is done using the Phantom Hourglass model which involved simply pressing the stylus down onto the screen, the characters will then run in that direction and change course according to the movements of the stylus. In order to make the game feel like a platformer the levels take into account each of the characters unique attributes, this means that in order to progress or to reach hidden areas different party members must be used; for example Sonic has the ability to spin through looped ramps, Tails can fly over gaps, Knuckles can climb walls and Amy can smash objects with her hammer.  As well as making the platforming more authentic this adds an element of strategy to the game since you need to strike a balance between characters that can help you traverse the environment and those that will prove useful in combat. However, this feature can also create a problem since changing party members can only be done certain locations, so players may find that they need to backtrack because they don’t have the right character in their squad.

Previous experience with a Bioware RPG would lead you to believe that this game is probably an intricate RPG with complicated equipment systems and deep combat but this isn’t the case; the combat in Sonic Chronicles a very simple affair. For the majority of the game the normal attacks and ‘POW’ attacks are the most effective option,  POW attacks are special attacks which occasionally have some status attribute to them, these attacks are executed through an Elite Beat Agents type mini-game which involves tapping circles and dragging the stylus in time with the prompts, this mini-game provides most of the depth in the combat since you can learn the timing of both your own characters and enemies attacks, successfully completing the mini-game during an enemies attack can either reduce damage or completely nullify the attack. Another quirky feature is a mini-game activated when the player or the enemy runs away, the gang either runs from or chases enemies and the player must tap the characters to make them jump over obstacles and collect rings, it’s a neat little feature. While the combat is engaging for the first few chapters it can quickly become tedious and a chore, some enemies can become inexplicably resistant to your attacks for extended periods which can draw out simple battles and make it feel as if you’re ill-equipped and underpowered even at a high level. Issues such as this can be infuriating in battles during quests where you are forced to compensate for Tails’ incompetence by embarking on a series of fetch-quests to collect a ridiculous amount of items so that he can figure out how to open a door, it happens a bit too frequently.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a at the very least a successful transition to the RPG genre for Sonic and a step in the right direction for the series, it’s unfortunate that the mechanics quickly become tedious and that the story is yet again completely underwhelming, it stings that little bit extra knowing that the game was developed by Bioware.  Sonic fans are bound to find something to enjoy in this, but outside of nostalgia Sonic Chronicles is a competent but ordinary RPG.

Tamoor Hussien